Fluid Structure Interaction Formulation Research Articles

Increasing Micro-Rotational Viscosity Results in Large Micro-Rotations: A Study Based on Monolithic Eulerian Cosserat Fluid–Structure Interaction Formulation

In classical continuum mechanics, a monolithic Eulerian formulation is used for numerically solving fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems in the frame of a physically deformed configuration. This numerical approach is well adapted to large-displacement fluid–structure configurations where velocities of solids and fluids are computed all at once in a single variational equation. In the recent past, a monolithic Eulerian formulation for solving FSI problems of finite deformation to study the different physical features of fluid flow has been employed. Almost all the current studies use a classical framework in their approach. Despite producing decent results, such methods still need to be appropriately configured to generate exceptional results. Recently, a number of researchers have used a non-classical framework in their approach to analyze several physical problems. Therefore, in this paper, a monolithic Eulerian formulation is employed for solving FSI problems in a non-classical framework to study the micro-structural characteristics of fluid flow by validating the results with classical benchmark solutions present in the literature. In this respect, the Cosserat theory of continuum is considered where a continuum of oriented rigid particles has, in addition to the three translational degrees of freedom of classical continuum, three micro-rotational degrees of freedom. The mathematical formulation of model equations is derived from the general laws of continuum mechanics. Based on the variational formulation of the FSI system, we propose the finite element method and semi-implicit scheme for discretizing space and time domains. The results are obtained by computing a well-known classical FSI benchmark test problem FLUSTRUK-FSI-3* with FreeFem++. The results of the study indicate that the increase in micro-rotational viscosity μr leads to significantly large micro-rotations in fluid flow at the micro-structural level. Further, it is found that the amplitude of oscillations is related inversely to the material parameters c1 and μr while the increase in c1 stabilizes the amplitude of oscillations relatively more quickly than increasing μr. The color snapshots of the numerical results at different times during the computer simulations and general conclusions drawn from the results are presented.

Elasto-capillary fluid–structure interaction with compound droplets

Computational modeling of elasto-capillarity, i.e., a fluid–structure interaction phenomenon where the solid deformation is driven by capillary forces at fluid–fluid interfaces has recently emerged as an important problem in computational mechanics. However, the high-fidelity simulation of elasto-capillary problems involving three immiscible fluids has remained unexplored. Here, we present a mathematical model and an algorithm to simulate elasto-capillary problems involving compound droplets. Such problems are of pivotal importance in pharmaceutical, biological and food industrial applications. We adopt a phase-field model described by the ternary Navier–Stokes–Cahn–Hilliard equations for the three immiscible fluids and a neo-Hookean model for the solid. We define a fluid–solid surface energy function, which determines the fluid–solid wettability and the tractions transmitted to the solid at the fluid–solid interface. We adopt a boundary-fitted approach for our fluid–structure interaction formulation and Isogeometric Analysis for the spatial discretization. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our computational model and algorithm, we perform elasto-capillary simulations involving various types of compound droplets.

Validation of the Reduced Unified Continuum Formulation Against In Vitro 4D-Flow MRI.

We previously introduced and verified the reduced unified continuum formulation for vascular fluid-structure interaction (FSI) against Womersley's deformable wall theory. Our present work seeks to investigate its performance in a patient-specific aortic setting in which assumptions of idealized geometries and velocity profiles are invalid. Specifically, we leveraged 2D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 4D-flow MRI to extract high-resolution anatomical and hemodynamic information from an in vitro flow circuit embedding a compliant 3D-printed aortic phantom. To accurately reflect experimental conditions, we numerically implemented viscoelastic external tissue support, vascular tissue prestressing, and skew boundary conditions enabling in-plane vascular motion at each inlet and outlet. Validation of our formulation is achieved through close quantitative agreement in pressures, lumen area changes, pulse wave velocity, and early systolic velocities, as well as qualitative agreement in late systolic flow structures. Our validated suite of FSI techniques offers a computationally efficient approach for numerical simulation of vascular hemodynamics. This study is among the first to validate a cardiovascular FSI formulation against an in vitro flow circuit involving a compliant vascular phantom of complex patient-specific anatomy.

Development, verification, and validation of comprehensive acoustic fluid‐structure interaction capabilities in an open‐source computational platform

AbstractThe acoustic fluid‐structure interaction (FSI) formulation is a practical numerical approach for the seismic analysis of fluid‐filled tanks. However, there are no verification and validation studies reported in the literature that demonstrate the ability of an acoustic FSI numerical model to predict responses important to structural and mechanical design for intense translational and rotational earthquake inputs. Herein, an acoustic FSI formulation is implemented in the open‐source Multiphysics Object‐Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), and is formally verified and validated using analytical solutions and code‐to‐code verification, and experimental data, respectively. The analytical solutions are for small amplitude, unidirectional seismic inputs. The code‐to‐code verification utilizes a previously verified and validated Arbitrary Lagrangian‐Eulerian (ALE) numerical model in the commercial finite element code LS‐DYNA. The validation studies utilize a comprehensive data set assembled from results of 3D earthquake‐simulator tests of a fluid‐filled vessel. The acoustic numerical model in MOOSE is verified and validated for hydrodynamic pressures and support reactions except for cases that involve significant convective response. For small amplitude inputs, numerically predicted wave heights match those of the analytical solutions. The numerical model is not verified and validated for wave height calculations under intense 3D seismic inputs. The run times for the acoustic FSI simulations in MOOSE are an order of magnitude, or more, shorter than for the corresponding ALE simulations in LS‐DYNA. The utility of the MOOSE acoustic FSI implementation is demonstrated by seismic analysis of a building equipped with a fluid‐filled, advanced nuclear reactor.

IGA-PD penalty-based coupling for immersed air-blast fluid–structure interaction: a simple and effective solution for fracture and fragmentation

Abstract We present a novel formulation for the immersed coupling of isogeometric analysis and peridynamics for the simulation of fluid–structure interaction (FSI). We focus on air-blast FSI and address the computational challenges of immersed FSI methods in the simulation of fracture and fragmentation by developing a weakly volume-coupled FSI formulation by means of a simple penalty approach. We show the mathematical formulation and present several numerical examples of inelastic ductile and brittle solids under blast loading that clearly demonstrate the power and robustness of the proposed methodology.

Coupling of IGA and peridynamics for air-blast fluid-structure interaction using an immersed approach

We present a novel formulation based on an immersed coupling of Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) and Peridynamics (PD) for the simulation of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) phenomena for air blast. We aim to develop a practical computational framework that is capable of capturing the mechanics of air blast coupled to solids and structures that undergo large, inelastic deformations with extreme damage and fragmentation. An immersed technique is used, which involves an a priori monolithic FSI formulation with the implicit detection of the fluid-structure interface and without limitations on the solid domain motion. The coupled weak forms of the fluid and structural mechanics equations are solved on the background mesh. Correspondence-based PD is used to model the meshfree solid in the foreground domain. We employ the Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) IGA functions in the background and the Reproducing Kernel Particle Method (RKPM) functions for the PD solid in the foreground. We feel that the combination of these numerical tools is particularly attractive for the problem class of interest due to the higher-order accuracy and smoothness of IGA and RKPM, the benefits of using immersed methodology in handling the fluid-structure coupling, and the capabilities of PD in simulating fracture and fragmentation scenarios. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed air-blast FSI framework.

A Hybrid Continuum-Particle Approach for Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulation of Red Blood Cells in Fluid Flows

Transport of cells in fluid flow plays a critical role in many physiological processes of the human body. Recent developments of in vitro techniques have enabled the understanding of cellular dynamics in laboratory conditions. However, it is challenging to obtain precise characteristics of cellular dynamics using experimental method alone, especially under in vivo conditions. This challenge motivates new developments of computational methods to provide complementary data that experimental techniques are not able to provide. Since there exists a large disparity in spatial and temporal scales in this problem, which requires a large number of cells to be simulated, it is highly desirable to develop an efficient numerical method for the interaction of cells and fluid flows. In this work, a new Fluid-Structure Interaction formulation is proposed based on the use of hybrid continuum-particle approach, which can resolve local dynamics of cells while providing large-scale flow patterns in the vascular vessel. Here, the Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) model for the cellular membrane is used in conjunction with the Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) for the fluid plasma. Our results show that the new formulation is highly efficient in computing the deformation of cells within fluid flow while satisfying the incompressibility constraints of the fluid. We demonstrate that it is possible to couple the DPD with the IBM to simulate the complex dynamics of Red Blood Cells (RBC) such as parachuting. Our key observation is that the proposed coupling enables the simulation of RBC dynamics in realistic arterioles while ensuring the incompressibility constraint for fluid plasma. Therefore, the proposed method allows an accurate estimation of fluid shear stresses on the surface of simulated RBC. Our results suggest that this hybrid methodology can be extended for a variety of cells in physiological conditions.

Numerical investigation on the effect of bileaflet mechanical heart valve's implantation tilting angle and aortic root geometry on intermittent regurgitation and platelet activation.

Platelet activation induced by shear stresses and non-physiological flow field generated by bileaflet mechanical heart valves (BMHVs) leads to thromboembolism, which can cause fatal consequences. One of the causes of platelet activation could be intermittent regurgitation, which arises due to asynchronous movement and rebound of BMHV leaflets during the valve closing phase. In this numerical study, the effect of intermittent regurgitation on the platelet activation potential of BMHVs was quantified by modeling a BMHV in the straight and anatomic aorta at implantation tilt angles 0°, 5°, 10°, and 20°. A fully implicit Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian-based Fluid-Structure Interaction formulation was adopted with blood modeled as a multiphase, non-Newtonian fluid. Results showed that the intermittent regurgitation and consequently the platelet activation level increases with the increasing implantation tilt of BMHV. For the straight aorta, the leaflet of the 20° tilted BMHV underwent a rebound of approximately 20° after initially closing, whereas the leaflet of the 10°, 5°, and 0° tilted BMHVs underwent a rebound of 8.5°, 3°, and 0°, respectively. For the anatomic aorta, the leaflet of the 20° tilted BMHV underwent a rebound of approximately 24° after initially closing, whereas the leaflet of the 10°, 5°, and 0° tilted BMHVs underwent a rebound of 14°, 10°, and 7°, respectively. For all the implantation orientations of BMHVs, intermittent regurgitation and platelet activation were always higher in the anatomic aorta than in the straight aorta. The study concludes that the pivot axis of BMHV must be implanted parallel to the aortic root's curvature to minimize intermittent regurgitation and platelet activation.

Numerical study of a membrane-type micro check-valve for microfluidic applications

In this paper, we present a method to simulate membrane-type micro check-valve using finite element method with fluid structure interaction formulation. The designed micro check-valve which is analogue of semiconductor device, diode, allows the fluid to pass in forward-mode and blocks it in reverse mode. To have a better understanding on the valve design we also studied the effect of design dimensions on the valve performance. Our study shows the valve flow rate-pressure curve is similar to diode current–voltage characterization curve. A series of simulations were carried out by using two-way fully-coupled Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis. Using Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method in combination with high viscosity region instead of solid valve-seat enables the designer to overcome simulations difficulties and reduces the amount of calculation time by not considering the contact phenomenon of the membrane and the valve seat. The results show the valve can withstand pressures of up to 11 kPa in reverse-mode regardless of membrane’s hole-size and length of chamber-inlet. Also, chamber-inlet size has high effect on valve opening threshold point in a way that increment of chamber-inlet area will reduce opening threshold point and vice versa.

A Formulation for Fluid-Structure Interactions in febio Using Mixture Theory.

Many physiological systems involve strong interactions between fluids and solids, posing a significant challenge when modeling biomechanics. The objective of this study was to implement a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) solver in the free, open-source finite element code FEBio, that combined the existing solid mechanics and rigid body dynamics solver with a recently developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. A novel Galerkin-based finite element FSI formulation was introduced based on mixture theory, where the FSI domain was described as a mixture of fluid and solid constituents that have distinct motions. The mesh was defined on the solid domain, specialized to have zero mass, negligible stiffness, and zero frictional interactions with the fluid, whereas the fluid was modeled as isothermal and compressible. The mixture framework provided the foundation for evaluating material time derivatives in a material frame for the solid and in a spatial frame for the fluid. Similar to our recently reported CFD solver, our FSI formulation did not require stabilization methods to achieve good convergence, producing a compact set of equations and code implementation. The code was successfully verified against benchmark problems from the FSI literature and an analytical solution for squeeze-film lubrication. It was validated against experimental measurements of the flow rate in a peristaltic pump and illustrated using non-Newtonian blood flow through a bifurcated carotid artery with a thick arterial wall. The successful formulation and implementation of this FSI solver enhance the multiphysics modeling capabilities in febio relevant to the biomechanics and biophysics communities.

A hybrid variational Allen‐Cahn/ALE scheme for the coupled analysis of two‐phase fluid‐structure interaction

SummaryWe present a partitioned iterative formulation for the modeling of fluid‐structure interaction (FSI) in two‐phase flows. The variational formulation consists of a stable and robust integration of three blocks of differential equations, viz, an incompressible viscous fluid, a rigid or flexible structure, and a two‐phase indicator field. The fluid‐fluid interface between the two phases, which may have high density and viscosity ratios, is evolved by solving the conservative phase‐field Allen‐Cahn equation in the arbitrary Lagrangian‐Eulerian coordinates. While the Navier‐Stokes equations are solved by a stabilized Petrov‐Galerkin method, the conservative Allen‐Cahn phase‐field equation is discretized by the positivity preserving variational scheme. Fully decoupled implicit solvers for the two‐phase fluid and the structure are integrated by the nonlinear iterative force correction in a staggered partitioned manner and the generalized‐α method is employed for the time marching. We assess the accuracy and stability of the phase‐field/ALE variational formulation for two‐ and three‐dimensional problems involving the dynamical interaction of rigid bodies with free surface. We consider the decay test problems of increasing complexity, namely, free translational heave decay of a circular cylinder and free rotation of a rectangular barge. Through numerical experiments, we show that the proposed formulation is stable and robust for high density ratios across fluid‐fluid interface and for low structure‐to‐fluid mass ratio with strong added‐mass effects. Overall, the proposed variational formulation produces results with high accuracy and compares well with available measurements and reference numerical data. Using unstructured meshes, we demonstrate the second‐order temporal accuracy of the coupled phase‐field/ALE method via decay test of a circular cylinder interacting with the free surface. Finally, we demonstrate the three‐dimensional phase‐field FSI formulation for a practical problem of internal two‐phase flow in a flexible circular pipe subjected to vortex‐induced vibrations due to external fluid flow.

A monolithic fluid–structure interaction formulation for solid and liquid membranes including free-surface contact

A unified fluid–structure interaction (FSI) formulation is presented for solid, liquid and mixed membranes. Nonlinear finite elements (FE) and the generalized-α scheme are used for the spatial and temporal discretization. The membrane discretization is based on curvilinear surface elements that can describe large deformations and rotations, and also provide a straightforward description for contact. The fluid is described by the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, and its discretization is based on stabilized Petrov–Galerkin FE. The coupling between fluid and structure uses a conforming sharp interface discretization, and the resulting non-linear FE equations are solved monolithically within the Newton–Raphson scheme. An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation is used for the fluid in order to account for the mesh motion around the structure. The formulation is very general and admits diverse applications that include contact at free surfaces. This is demonstrated by two analytical and three numerical examples exhibiting strong coupling between fluid and structure. The examples include balloon inflation, droplet rolling and flapping flags. They span a Reynolds-number range from 0.001 to 2000. One of the examples considers the extension to rotation-free shells using isogeometric FE.

Analytical linear modelization of a buckled undulating membrane tidal energy converter

This paper presents an analytical linear model developed to study the behaviour of a buckled membrane tidal energy converter. The Euler beam theory and the elongated body theory are used for the fluid structure interaction formulation. The effect of electromechanical converters used to convert the undulating motion into electrical energy is reproduced by adding a term equivalent to viscous material damping. The influence of compression force, flaps and hanging conditions is studied, as well as the effects of simulated power take-off through internal damping. The system's behaviour is characterized by undulating mode, critical flow velocity, motion frequency and amplitude. The model shows good agreement in terms of frequency and satisfactory results for the amplitude compared to experimental data. The linear assumptions were validated on fluid and structure models as a good start for a first analytical model describing the system's physic. The obtained results confirmed the benefits of initial stress and optimized damping to the tidal converter for energy harnessing. • The behaviour of an undulating membrane tidal energy convertor has been modelized. • The model is linearized to enable light computation. • Results of frequency, trajectory and hydrodynamic forces fit the experiments. • Optimization of the tidal energy collected is discussed.

Self-sustaining turbulent wake characteristics in fluid–structure interaction of a square cylinder

We present a numerical study on the fluid–structure interaction of a square cylinder at subcritical Reynolds numbers 1400≤Re≤10,000. Variation in spatial and temporal structures during the self-sustaining regeneration cycle are investigated via a three-dimensional Navier–Stokes flow coupled with a freely vibrating square cylinder at relatively low mass ratio. We employ a variational fluid–structure interaction formulation based on the recently developed partitioned iterative scheme and the dynamic subgrid-scale turbulence model. To begin, we assess the response amplitudes, the synchronization regimes and the vortex shedding patterns against the experimental measurements for the flow-induced vibration of a square cylinder at zero incidence angle. Of particular interest is to predict and analyze the synchronization regimes and the associated wake structures for a range of reduced velocity. The vibration of the cylinder provides an avenue for the merging of smaller eddies in the vicinity of the cylinder and there are relatively more clustered spanwise rollers and streamwise ribs as compared to the stationary counterpart. We provide a comparative assessment of Reynolds stress distributions in the near-wake region between the VIV lock-in case and its stationary counterpart. We find that the spatial symmetry of the shearing process in the wake shifts to the temporal symmetry of Reynolds stress when the cylinder is free to vibrate. Consequently, in the vibrating case, the competition between the mean shear growth and damping results in a relatively lower frequency shearing as compared to the stationary cylinder. We introduce a representative control volume in the near-wake region to assess the kinetic energy and enstrophy evolution for the stationary and vibrating configurations. We examine the core reason of the matching of periodic wake frequency with the vibrating cylinder frequency through the development of near-wake flow structures and the kinetic energy evolution. By combining these results with the self-sustained process of coherent vortex structure development, we finally explain the formation of intermediate hairpin-like structures in close proximity to the vibrating cylinder and the absence of them in the stationary cylinder.

A new formulation for air-blast fluid–structure interaction using an immersed approach. Part I: basic methodology and FEM-based simulations

In this two-part paper we begin the development of a new class of methods for modeling fluid–structure interaction (FSI) phenomena for air blast. We aim to develop accurate, robust, and practical computational methodology, which is capable of modeling the dynamics of air blast coupled with the structure response, where the latter involves large, inelastic deformations and disintegration into fragments. An immersed approach is adopted, which leads to an a-priori monolithic FSI formulation with intrinsic contact detection between solid objects, and without formal restrictions on the solid motions. In Part I of this paper, the core air-blast FSI methodology suitable for a variety of discretizations is presented and tested using standard finite elements. Part II of this paper focuses on a particular instantiation of the proposed framework, which couples isogeometric analysis (IGA) based on non-uniform rational B-splines and a reproducing-kernel particle method (RKPM), which is a Meshfree technique. The combination of IGA and RKPM is felt to be particularly attractive for the problem class of interest due to the higher-order accuracy and smoothness of both discretizations, and relative simplicity of RKPM in handling fragmentation scenarios. A collection of mostly 2D numerical examples is presented in each of the parts to illustrate the good performance of the proposed air-blast FSI framework.

A new formulation for air-blast fluid–structure interaction using an immersed approach: part II—coupling of IGA and meshfree discretizations

In this two-part paper we begin the development of a new class of methods for modeling fluid---structure interaction (FSI) phenomena for air blast. We aim to develop accurate, robust, and practical computational methodology, which is capable of modeling the dynamics of air blast coupled with the structure response, where the latter involves large, inelastic deformations and disintegration into fragments. An immersed approach is adopted, which leads to an a-priori monolithic FSI formulation with intrinsic contact detection between solid objects, and without formal restrictions on the solid motions. In Part I of this paper, the core air-blast FSI methodology suitable for a variety of discretizations is presented and tested using standard finite elements. Part II of this paper focuses on a particular instantiation of the proposed framework, which couples isogeometric analysis (IGA) based on non-uniform rational B-splines and a reproducing-kernel particle method (RKPM), which is a meshfree technique. The combination of IGA and RKPM is felt to be particularly attractive for the problem class of interest due to the higher-order accuracy and smoothness of both discretizations, and relative simplicity of RKPM in handling fragmentation scenarios. A collection of mostly 2D numerical examples is presented in each of the parts to illustrate the good performance of the proposed air-blast FSI framework.

A hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method for modeling fluid–structure interaction

This work presents a novel application of the hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) finite element method to the multi-physics simulation of coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems. Recent applications of the HDG method have primarily been for single-physics problems including both solids and fluids, which are necessary building blocks for FSI modeling. Utilizing these established models, HDG formulations for linear elastostatics, a nonlinear elastodynamic model, and arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian Navier–Stokes are derived. The elasticity formulations are written in a Lagrangian reference frame, with the nonlinear formulation restricted to hyperelastic materials.With these individual solid and fluid formulations, the remaining challenge in FSI modeling is coupling together their disparate mathematics on the fluid–solid interface. This coupling is presented, along with the resultant HDG FSI formulation. Verification of the component models, through the method of manufactured solutions, is performed and each model is shown to converge at the expected rate. The individual components, along with the complete FSI model, are then compared to the benchmark problems proposed by Turek and Hron [1]. The solutions from the HDG formulation presented in this work trend towards the benchmark as the spatial polynomial order and the temporal order of integration are increased.

Airborne wind turbine shell behavior prediction under various wind conditions using strongly coupled fluid structure interaction formulation

High altitude wind harvesting has been acknowledged as one of the green and efficient future prospects for renewable energy. Different techniques have been adopted over the time to exploit the source effectively. Airborne Wind Turbine System is one of those techniques that are however still in its initial stages. In the present study, the behavior of the airborne wind turbine shell is predicted numerically under various wind conditions. A partitioned strongly coupled fluid–structure interaction formulation was employed to anticipate the behavior of the turbine shell at different wind speeds and varying angles of attack. Two commercial solvers for fluid and structural domains were engaged as black box solvers. Fixed point iteration with dynamic under relaxation was employed to couple the solvers. Dynamic and kinematic constraints were satisfied at each time step to ensure strong coupling of the solvers. This study would be helpful to better understand the behavior of airborne wind turbine shell under different conditions of the wind for a stable and proficient design.

Computational free-surface fluid–structure interaction with application to floating offshore wind turbines

Abstract In this paper, we propose a computational fluid–structure interaction (FSI) framework for the simulations of the interaction between free-surface flow and floating structures, such as offshore wind turbines. The framework is based on a suitable combination of the finite element method (FEM) and isogeometric analysis (IGA), and has good efficiency, accuracy and robustness characteristics. The free-surface phenomena are modeled using the Navier–Stokes equations of incompressible two-fluid flow in conjunction with the level set method. The FEM-based moving-domain ALE-VMS technique is employed to discretize the fluid mechanics equations, while the IGA-based rotation-free shell and beam/cable formulation is employed to model the mechanics of floating structures. The kinematic and traction compatibility at the fluid–structure interface is handled by means of a recently-developed augmented Lagrangian FSI formulation with formal elimination of the Lagrange multiplier variable. A quasi-direct coupling strategy is adopted to handle the large added mass, and implemented by means of a matrix-free technique. The mathematical formulation of the FSI problem and its algorithmic implementation are described in detail, and two numerical test cases are presented. The first case is a free-surface-flow benchmark example of a solitary wave impacting a fixed, rigid platform. The second case is a set of full-scale free-surface-FSI simulations of the OC3-Hywind floating wind turbine design subjected to wave action. The computational results are compared with experimental and simulation data, with good agreement achieved in all cases where such data was available. Wind-turbine computations in the regime of high-amplitude waves are also presented.

Finite Element Formulations Applied to Outer Ear Modeling

The work described in this paper is part of a broader research activity on the development of a virtual ear. The present study focuses on the tympanic membrane and auditory canal modeling, which are important components in sound transmission. The standard finite element method (FEM) and an alternative method (the generalized FEM), suitable for modeling sound propagation at high frequencies, were applied. Two domains (fluid and structural) for the auditory canal and the tympanic membrane, respectively, were considered in order to evaluate the coupling of the different methods and to apply a fluid-structure interaction formulation. ANSYS ® software was used for solving FEM analyses, while GFEM simulations were obtained by implementing the method in Wolfram Mathematica®. Simulation results include modal response, pressure distribution in the auditory canal and displacement distribution in the tympanic membrane. The identified modal frequencies of the auditory canal agree with published data reported in the literature. The validation of such method with standard FEM simulation at increasing mesh density shows that FEM is more suitable for simulations of the human ear in the audible frequency range, although the generalized formulation could be convenient if an ear model including the whole head or the ultrasound frequency range were investigated.